A change order is how extra work gets added to a job you already priced. The customer asks for a second coat, or you open something up and find a problem nobody priced. Either way the job you quoted is not the job you are doing, and you want to know whether that page is worth stopping the crew for.
It is worth stopping for. The rule is usually the same in every state: write the change down and get it signed before anybody starts on it. If you skip that and work on a handshake, the bill turns into an argument you can lose. Connecticut says a change nobody signed cannot be enforced against the homeowner, so you end up asking a court what your work was worth.
By the end you will know what goes on a change order, when to send it, what your state says has to be in writing, how to price the extra work, and what to do when a customer will not sign. It helps to know whether you handed over an estimate or a quote to start with. I am Daren Hirsch. I built Catch CRM, which is job and customer software for trades, to handle the paperwork between jobs.
Key takeaways
- Skipping the change order costs you twice: once for the labor and materials, and again in the hours spent arguing over a bill your contract does not cover.
- A change order gets signed before the extra work starts, because once it is finished the customer has no reason left to sign.
- What an unwritten change costs you depends on the state. Connecticut puts the bill itself at risk, while New Jersey, Massachusetts and Wisconsin make it a matter for the state to enforce.
- An electronic signature counts as a signature, by Wisconsin's own statute, so a change order signed on a phone at the kitchen table is a signed change order.
What a change order is, and when you need one
Your contract describes one job. A change order describes the difference between that job and the one you are now asked to do, and once you both sign it that difference belongs to the contract too.
Short answer: a change order is a short written update to the job you already agreed, signed by you and the customer before the extra work starts.
- It can add work and raise the price, or take work out and lower it. Adding is the common one.
- It names the new total and the new finish date, so neither one is a surprise at the end.
- It keeps the extra work inside the contract you can bill from.
How I know: every state rule quoted below asks for the same two things, in writing and signed, and each one is linked.
Two kinds come up on real jobs. Most add work, which everybody pictures: another window, the rot under the sill. The other kind takes work out, and it is worth the same five minutes. A customer who skips the back bathroom will often still expect the original price to cover something you never did.
Three things should make you reach for one. The customer asks for work the contract does not mention. You find a condition nobody could see when you priced the job. The finish date moves, which costs nothing and is still what people argue about later.
Now you know what the page is for. What surprises people is that the page is worth more to you than to the customer, and only while the work is undone.
What goes on a change order template
Here is what goes on the page, in the order you fill it in. Six lines is enough, and a change order longer than one page rarely gets signed.
- Which job this changes. The customer's name, the address, and the date of the original contract. Without that date nothing ties the page to the agreement it changes.
- What the change is, in a full sentence. Write "replace the two rotted sill plates under the kitchen window", not "extra framing".
- What it does to the price. Give the amount of the change and the new contract total, both. People sign a figure they can check.
- What it does to the finish date. Say how many days you are adding. A change that adds no time says that too.
- A line saying the rest stands. One sentence confirming the original contract still covers everything else.
- Both signatures and the date. Yours and the customer's, dated the day they sign. The date proves the signature came before the work.
Some call it a change order form, and a customer who asks for one first has sent you a change order request form. The header changes nothing.
Send it before the crew starts
A signature before the work is the difference between a debt the customer owes you and a favor you did them. Here is what happens when nobody signed it.
Connecticut puts it about as plainly as a statute can. Under the state's Home Improvement Act, no home improvement contract "shall be valid or enforceable against an owner" unless it is in writing and signed by both the owner and the contractor. The same section adds that "each change in the terms and conditions of a contract shall be in writing and shall be signed by the owner and contractor." So an unsigned change to a Connecticut job is not part of the contract at all.
There is a way back, and it shows what the shortcut costs. The same statute lets a contractor who met the core requirements recover "the reasonable value of services which were requested by the owner." That only happens where a court decides it would be unfair to refuse. One route is a lawsuit, a judge, and somebody else's opinion of your work. The other is an invoice.
The usual objection is that printing a form costs an hour. Wisconsin's electronic records statute says that if a law requires a record to be in writing, "an electronic record satisfies that requirement in that law." If a law requires a signature, "an electronic signature satisfies that requirement." A change order approved on a phone in the customer's kitchen is a written, signed change order.
You know the timing. What changes by state is the size of job the rule starts at.
What your state says has to be in writing
Four states, four triggers, and the same two words in each.
| State | When a change has to be in writing | What happens otherwise |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | Any home improvement job over $200, and every change to it | The contract cannot be enforced against the homeowner |
| New Jersey | Any home improvement job over $500, and every change to it | Every party has to sign the change, so an unsigned one breaks the rule |
| Massachusetts | Any residential job over $1,000 | Construction that differs from the plans without the owner's consent is a prohibited act |
| Wisconsin | No dollar amount at all, on any job where you take money before you finish | Every change to the terms has to be in writing, whatever the job is worth |
Sources, in order: Connecticut's Home Improvement Act above, New Jersey's home improvement practices rules, the Massachusetts home improvement contractor law, Chapter 142A sections 2 and 17, and Wisconsin's home improvement rule.
Wisconsin catches people through a habit nobody thinks is risky. The rule covers any contract "requiring any payment of money or other consideration by the buyer prior to completion," and says those contracts "and all changes in the terms and conditions thereof, shall be in writing." Take a deposit and you are inside it, on any size of job.
So the writing part is settled. Most of the real arguments are about the amount on the page.
How to price the extra work
You have three honest ways to price a change, and the one you pick decides who carries the risk when it goes badly.
A fixed price is the cleanest. You name one amount, the customer signs it, and you absorb it if the work takes longer than you thought. Use it when you can see the work.
A rate per unit suits work you can see but cannot count yet. You agree a price per square foot, per fixture or per linear foot, and fill the quantity in once the work is done. That fits rot, tile and anything you keep finding more of.
Time and materials is the last resort, and it needs a limit written into it. You bill the hours and the materials, with a cap you both agree. The customer is not signing a blank check, and you are not working for free past the number. Leaving the cap off is why this option gets refused.
Whichever you use, carry over the same markup you built into the original contract. Markup is the amount you add on top of what the work costs you, and it pays for running the business rather than doing the job.
What you get when the change order goes out from the job
We built Catch CRM for home service and trade businesses across the United States. The point of it is that the paperwork on a job stops waiting for an evening at a desk. Here is what we do with a change order.
You build the revised estimate from your own saved prices while you are standing in front of the work. The customer reviews it and approves it online with an e-signature, the signature the Wisconsin statute above allows, timed to the minute. The moment they approve, it becomes the invoice, so the extra work bills with the rest of the job. If they do not approve it, our follow-up keeps going until they do. All of it stays on the job record beside the calls, texts and payments, which is where you look eight months later when somebody asks what was agreed.
FAQ
Can I ask for a deposit on a change order?
Yes, up to the limit your own state sets on the job itself. Massachusetts caps a deposit at the greater of one third of the total contract price or the actual cost of special order materials. So a change that needs a custom window can be paid up front, and a change that is mostly labor generally cannot.
What if the customer will not sign the change order?
Then the extra work does not happen, and that is the right outcome, not a failure. Keep working to the contract you have. If the change is something you found rather than something they asked for, put in writing what you are stopping at and why. Doing the work anyway and arguing later puts your money in somebody else's hands.
Does any of this apply on a commercial job?
No, and that catches people who work both. These are consumer protection rules written for homes, and Connecticut's version says so by excluding goods and services "furnished for commercial or business use or for resale." On a commercial job your own contract's change clause governs, so read the approval steps you signed up to.
Doing extra work you are not sure you can bill
Estimates, approvals and the invoices that follow them live beside your jobs in Catch CRM. A change order can go out and come back signed before your crew moves. If the extra work on your jobs keeps getting agreed verbally and argued about later, book a demo. That is a short call where we set this up against your own job list, and we can do the same for the estimates and invoices you still build by hand.
This is general information, not legal advice; consult an attorney about your situation.